liJtlmt - Orthodox Presbyterian Church

September 15, 1952
VOL. 21, NO. Sit
% ~liJtlmtGUARDIAN
]
All things in Scripture are not alike
plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto
all: yet those things which are necessary
to be known, believed, and observed for
salvation, are so clearly propounded in
some place of Scripture or other, that not
only the learned, but the unlearned, in
a due use of the ordinary means, may
attain unto a sufficient understanding of
them.
Westminster Confession I. 7
J. Gresham Machen
Editor
1936· 1937
Published Monthly
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Meditation
About Your Subscription
Contentment
Godliness with contentment 1S great
gain.-I TIMOTHY 6:6.
"One honest John Tompkins, a
hedger and ditcher,
"Although he was poor, did not
want to be richer;
"For all such vain wishes in him
were prevented
"By a fortunate habit of being contented."
So the poets tell us. But in the light
of our world, he seems legendary. Who
has not known the burnings of dejected
discontent? Who has not chafed under
privations? Most men spend their days
whirling in the stirs of discontented
strife, vieing with one another for
power, position, and profits. Their life
is but a series of "adventures in discontent" that ends in the eternal unrest. And because their life is vain
and unrewarding,
"Many a discontented mourner
"Spends his days in Grumble Corner:
"Sour and sad . . ."
Dissatisfaction with things as they
are is the first step to progress. We do
not look for improvements unless we
want a change. And in all our achievements there must be a kind of "candid
discontent," a frank dissatisfaction with
goals reached. Only so can we mature
and ripen. Complacency is always
deadening to a race called to master the
earth. There is a call to move on in
things material and spiritual that must
be heard. And it promotes the unrest
of a holy discontent. He who cares not
to advance is senile and ready to die.
Yet in discontent there must be contentment. When our lot chafes the
soul, all is not well. Restless irritation,
fretting like a tiger in a cage, is a moral
affliction. So is it to be ruled by mere
desire and craving. A man must eat
to live. But he is not a man when he
lives to eat. Then there is something
deranged, and we have a monstrosity.
The world is empty and hungry, and
struggles to escape its misery. But the
world understands neither its true affliction nor the secret of deliverance. It
must all be revealed. The Buddhist
and the Brahman would have us stamp
out all desire, and view serenely and
without feeling the parade of life with
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all its cravings. The philosopher worships the intellect. Emotional experiences are beneath him. He would run
in the pursuit of truth and find his joy
in knowledge. Others again hope for
peace in the cloister, lost in the exercises of worship and quiet meditation.
But usually the things they sense and
see control the hearts of men. They
live for power, position, popularity,
pleasure, wealth. For these they will
fight and die. And life seems but a
constant clash of interests.
There is a better way. Paul learned
to be content in want and plenty.
Neither ascetic nor covetous, he had
another source of rest. He was not at
the mercy of events without. His resources were within. In a sense he was
self-sufficient.
Contentment is a fruit of good relations with God. The divine fellowship
lifts the soul above dependence upon
outward conditions for satisfaction.
The tree that can drive its roots to
deep sources of water is not parched by
surface droughts. The man that lives
under the open heavens finds his needs
really few, and having food and clothing he can be therewith content. Death
would take us from our comforts, were
contentment tied to riches, for naked
came we into the world and naked go
we out of it.
Contentment also feeds upon our
hope of glory, and matures with the
growing vision of our coming triumph.
We shall inherit the earth. All things
are ours.
Faith in God's fatherly care also
cures the love of money, and that
greedy lust for gain. Security must
rest not in a bank account, but in the
divine promises. It must be anchored
to the love and faithfulness of God
(Hebrews 13:5). When a man's religion makes him truly free of discontent, then he is rich indeed. He has
all his heart desires. He has all he
needs.
HENRY TAVARES
Westminster to Open
IN G exercises of Westminster
OPEN
Seminary will take place Wednesday afternoon, September 24, at 3 p.m.,
in Calvary Orthodox Presbyterian
Church, across the road from the Westminster campus. The Rev. John C.
Hills will deliver the address. Friends
of the Seminary are invited to attend.
Betzold to Germany
C
H A PLAIN John W. Betzold has
been assigned to a tour of duty in
Germany, and expects to leave for that
country in the near future. He hopes
his family will be able to join him there
within a few months.
Chaplain Betzold returned to this
country from Korea about a year ago.
He was with the forces in Korea from
near the beginning of that conflict, and
was involved in some of the dramatic
phases of the campaign.
Personal Notes
A daughter, Karen Marie, was born
to the Rev. and Mrs. Elmer Dortzbach
of Franklin Square, N. Y., on June 10.
On July 15, a daughter, Janice Margaret, was born to the Rev. and Mrs.
Edward L. Kellogg of West Collingswood, N. J. The Kelloggs have four
other children.
A daughter, Sandra Lyn, was born
to Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Wierenga on
August 12. Mrs. Wierenga is the
former Marilyn Stonehouse, daughter
of Dr. Ned B. Stonehouse.
A son, Samuel George, was born to
the Rev. and Mrs. Francis Mahaffy,
missionaries in Eritrea, on August 21.
This is the Mahaffy's fourth child.
A son, Steven Wolcott, was born to
the Rev. and Mrs. Herbert S. Bird, also
missionaries in Eritrea, on August 16.
The Presbyterian Guardian is published monthly by the Presbyterian Guardian Publishing Corporation, 728 Schaff Building, 1505 Race Street, Philadelphia 2, Pa., at the
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162
I
The Presbyterian Guardian
II
I
THE PRESBYTERIAN GUARDIAN
SEPTEMBER 15, 1952
Message or Organization?
THE General Assembly of The Orthodox Presby-
.
terian Church voted this summer to terminate the
church's membership in the International Council of
Christian Churches. The basic reason for this decision appeared to be that the church was committed to
the Christian message which it undersood in terms of
the Reformed Faith. It could not in good conscience
join in an organization committed to the proclamation
of the message on more general terms. Since the International Council includes member bodies who do not
hold, or consciously reject, the Reformed position,
participation in that Council was not for the church.
In taking this action the church indicated that it
was determined to take its message, and its work of
proclaiming that message, seriously. The message is
the important thing to this church.
In sharp contrast to this position, the World Conference on Faith and Order which met in Lund,
Sweden, in August decided that it did not have a
message, but that its participating bodies ought to
unite for the sake of the organization.
It may seem presumptuous to compare the decisions of The Orthodox Presbyterian Church's Assembly with the decisions of the World Conference on
Faith and Order. The latter is a division of the World
Council of Churches which claims 158 participating
denominations with many millions of members. Yet
they were concerned basically with the same problem,
the relationship of churches one to another.
The World Conference on Faith and Order first
met in 1927. Its purpose was to discuss, in an atmosphere of objectivity, the difference between the
churches in matters of doctrine, worship and government. The hope was that through discussion there
would come mutual understanding, agreement, and
eventual union. The Conference was not, however, to
be a pressure movement toward union. It was to be a
discussion group.
What happened at Lund this summer was typical
of the movement from the beginning. The delegates
met, heard reports, discussed matters, and agreed-to
disagree. A reporter who attended the gathering comments that the problems are still "problems for which
no solution is in sight." "It would be hard," he adds,
"to put a finger on even one former disagreement that
September 15, 1952
has been turned into an agreement. . . . There have
been few conversions of individuals from one position
to another, and none of communions." Time magazine remarks that each faction was quite sure the way
to bring agreement was for the other factions to stop
disagreeing.
The conferees, representing the churches of the
world, were thus confronted with the discouraging but
inescapable fact that after 25 years they have arrived at
no common understanding of the church's message, or
its worship or government. What should they do?
In the official report they state, "We have seen
clearly that we can make no real advance toward unity
if we only compare our several conceptions of the
nature of the church..... We have now reached a
crucial point in our ecumenical discussions. . . . The
measure of unity it has been given the churches to
experience together must now find clearer manifestation."
In other words, though they admit they have no
message, they are going to put their confidence in
organization. Of course this was just a report. We
do not expect to see the various groups actually merging in any serious way. But that has become the aim
of the movement. They cannot agree on their faith
and order. So, unite anyway, and through unity
achieve at least communityof action, though there be
no community of message.
Here then are two conceptions of the church. In
the one case, a small communion chooses to determine
its cooperative activity by its message. Since it believes
that message is God's word, it will stand committed to
the message. It cannot cooperate with certain others
who do not agree to that message even though it
recognizes them as fellow Christians. In the other
case, a large group of churches finding that it has no
common message decides to let whatever message it
may have be determined through organizational cooperation.
Because we believe that faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the Word of God, we believe God is
more pleased with a church which holds fast that
Word and proclaims it boldly, than with a large
organization which does not have that Word.
L. W.S.
163
Not a New Bible
G
REAT publicity is being given to
September 30, the date on which
the Revised Standard Version of the
Bible is to be released. Churches are
being asked to celebrate this day as
"Observance Day" in honor of this
publication. One full page advertisement which we have seen shouts:
"Greatest Bible News in 341 Years."
What is all the excitement about?
Simply that a group of scholars have
prepared a new translation of the Bible.
The scholars are from various denominations, and worked under the chairmanship of Dr. Luther Weigle of the
Yale Divinity School. And the publication is owned by the National Council of Churches, so that profits accrue to
that organization. The excitement is
simply a form of advance publicity designed to promote sales.
We consider such a program exceedingly unfortunate, for the simple reason
that the text of this new translation has
not been made available. Except for a
very few individuals, no one knows
whether it is a good or a bad, a true or
a false, translation. What is being sold
to the public, at the present time, is an
unknown.
But what about new translations of
the Bible ? We do not hold that the
text of the Authorized or King James
version, made in 16II, is sacrosanct. It
was a good translation. But it was a
translation, made by human beings. It
has its defects. The original texts from
which that translation was made were
not as reliable as those which are available to us now, as a result of discovery
and study in the intervening three centuries. And the language which is
used in it is at points undoubtedly
obsolete in our day.
These faults of the King James version, however, are very minor. The
language difficulty can easily be overcome by anyone who studies the Bible
with helps. And the text matter, very
minor at most, is largely overcome by
the use of marginal readings. So, with
its literary beauty, the King James version is still the best loved translation of
the Bible-and the most read-in the
English speaking world.
But it is inevitable that attempts
should be made to improve on it. One
such attempt was made near the close
of the roth century, and resulted, for
us, in the American Standard Version
164
of 1901 •. This is also a good translation, eliminating some of the obsolete
language, and using a better original
text at certain points. It enjoys wide
use, but has not replaced, and will not
replace, the 16II version.
The new Revised Standard Version
is just another attempt to improve (according to the judgment of the translators) on present English texts. Actually
the name is misleading. It is not a revision of the American Standard Version, but is really a completely new
translation.
The New Testament section was
published in 1946, and has been subjected to praise and criticism since then.
NEXT MONTH
WE are happy to announce
that beginning next
month we plan to carry a
series of articles, written by
Professor John Murray of
Westminster
Theological
Seminary.
These articles,
under the general heading,
The Application of Redemption, deal with such matters
as election, effectual calling,
faith and repentance, justification, and so on. There will
probably be about eight articles in the series. Be sure
your subscription is up to
date. Urge your friends to
subscribe.
Although at points it showed greater
accuracy because of its better original
text, at others it was definitely poor,
because it tried to render the general
meaning of the original, rather than
accurately to portray the words of the
original. We who believe in verbal inspiration - that the words of the
original were immediately inspired of
God and are infallible-prefer a translation and not a paraphrase.
For a careful analysis of this Revised
Standard New Testament we suggest
a book by Dr. O. T. Allis, entitled
Revision or New Translation.
It is probable that the Old Testament
section will be far more radical in the
new version, than was the New Testament section. There are far more
difficulties in the Hebrew than in the
Greek, and consequently more occasions for that bugaboo of those who
don't have a high regard for the text of
Scripture, the "conjectural emendation," which simply means that one
doesn't like what it says so one makes
it say what he thinks it ought to say.
Presbyterian Life magazine cites a
few verses of the new version (August
9, 1952 , p. II). We note only one.
The King James version reads Psalm
thus: "Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the
Son, lest he be angry . . ."
The Revised Standard Version renders this verse: "Serve the Lord with
fear, with trembling kiss his feet, lest
he be angry."
2:II
The rearrangement of the verse, and
especially the omission of the word
"Son" in the new form, are immediately apparent. The King James rendering represents the original. The
new rendering is without textual support, and apparently constitutes one of
those "conjectural emendations," perhaps because the translators didn't like
the introduction of the "Son" at this
point.
The new translation will be of interest. At points it may help some people
in understanding what is written in the
Bible. After it appears it will be duly
examined, and undoubtedly highly
praised and roundly criticized.
It will not take the place of the King
James version for general use. And
we certainly don't think churches
should celebrate the day of its publication. After we have seen it, we will
know better whether to rejoice - or
weep.
L. W. S.
'7L %lildmtGUARDIAN
1505 Race Street, Philadelphia 2, Po.
Leslie W. Sloat
Editor and Manager
John P. Clelland
Arthur W. Kuschke, Jr.
Robert S. Marsden
Contributing Editors
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Robert L. Atwell
Leslie A. Dunn
John Patton Galbraith
Edward L. Kellogg
The Presbyterian Guardian
Are Christian Schools Divisive?
Digest of an address before the
N. U. C. S. Convention
By EDWARD HEEREMA
April 7, Dr. James B. Conant,
L AST
President of Harvard University,
spoke as follows at a regional meeting
of the American Association of School
Administrators held in Boston:
"To my mind our schools should
serve all creeds. The greater the proportion of our youth who attend independent schools, the greater the threat
to our democratic unity."
Dr. Conant also said other things in
his address, which pointed to our
schools among others as a divisive force
in our democratic society.
Dr. Conant is an eminent scientist.
He looks at American society as a
scientist. Let us call him a social scien,tist. As a social scientist he sees especially two things that are "typically
American," according to his book, Education in a Divided World. These two
things' which form the "essence of the
uniqueness of our concept of democracy" are a "greater degree of social
mobility and fluidity," and a "greater
degree of equality of opportunity for
the youth of each succeeding generation."
Let it be said that we rejoice in these
marks of our culture also. But as a
social scientist observing our culture,
as a laboratory scientist observes the
test-tube, Dr. Conant cannot see something else that is of transcendent importance, something else that he, as a
social scientist could not evaluate, even
if he knew it was present.
That something else which is of such
tremendous importance in the lives of
thousands of American citizens is simply the "faith" that these many citizens
live by. It is their religious commitment. It is this which governs their
lives and establishes the pattern of their
conduct in all things.
If religious commitment is the most
important element in the lives of thousands of the citizens of our free society,
and if this religious commitment is so
deep and compelling on the part of
many citizens that they are bound before God to educate their young in
keeping with that commitment, then
who has a right to say that these people
September 15, 1952
are a divisive force in our free society?
I do not think Dr. Conant has that
right simply because he chooses to look
at American society in his particular
way. In this sense, Dr. Conant's charge
is deeply unAmerican.
Spokesmen for secularistic education
like to claim that the public schools
teach moral and spiritual values. What
do men like Dr. Conant mean by the
term "moral and spiritual values?"
There is a good answer to that question
THE
Rev. Edward Heerema is public
relations secretary of the National
Union of Christian Schools. The Union
recently held its annual convention in
Chicago. Attendance at some o·f the special meetings was in the neighborhood of
1,000 persons. Other speakers included
Dr. William Spoelhof, president of Calvin College, and the Rev. John O. Schuring, former missionary to Ceylon. This
article is the substance of an address by
Mr. Heerema, of which the full title was
"Are our Christian Schools a Divisive
Force in a Democratic Society?"
available to us. It is the answer given
by the Educational Policies Commission
of the National Education Association
and the American Association of School
Administrators, a commission of which
Dr. Conant was a member from 1941
to 1946. According to this high-ranking body, moral and .spiritual values are
"those values which, when applied to
human behaviour, exalt and refine life
and bring it into accord with the standards of conduct that are approved in
our democratic culture."
This is an amazing definition. This
definition makes moral and spiritual
values subservient to the will of man,
or of society, if you will. These are no
moral and spiritual values that hold
sovereign sway over the conduct of
men.
I wish these spokesmen for secularistic education would desist from degrading these precious words "moral"
and "spiritual" into something wholly
other than their historic, time-honored
meaning. If one bears in mind this
wretched definition of "moral. and
spiritual values" then he can understand
a rather astonishing statement in Dr.
Conant's Boston speech. This is the
statement (italics mine): "If one accepts the ideal of a democratic fluid
society with a minimum of class distinction, the maximum of fluidity, the
maximum of understanding between
different vocational groups, then the
ideal secondary school is a comprehensive public high school. If one has
doubts about the ability of secular
schools to promote the growth of moral
and spiritual values, then these doubts
must be weighed against the democratic objectives I have just listed."
That is the voice of the American
secularist declaring that moral and
spiritual values are of lesser worth than
certain factors in the democratic social
process.
In specific answer to Dr. Conant I
want to say first of all that there is a
totalitarian quality about his remarks
that alarms me. If some people are to
set up their ideas of the character of
our social structure as final, and if all
the children are to be educated in
schools expressing that notion of the
social structure, then we definitely have
something approaching the communistic or fascistic notion of a social process
and education. In this sense too it
seems to me that Dr. Conant's charge
is uri-American. Has it not been
uniquely characteristic of America
throughout her history to embrace
thousands and thousands of people who
came to these shores because they were
divisive elements in an oppressive social
structure abroad? Because they could
not as free men and women accept the
strictures of such oppressive social situations and ideologies?
Furthermore we ask the central question of this discussion, Shall American
culture become increasingly secularistic
or shall we in some sense continue to be
called a Christian nation? Shall our
nation and her education express the
nihilism of Nietzsche that "God is
dead"? Or shall America continue to
express the heartbeat of people who
love God and His Christ and who
would serve Him in all things?
If our culture is to become increasingly secularistic, then true moral tone
must more and more disappear from
our national life. That will mean the
loss of those moral controls without
which a society cannot 'long remain
165
free. The danger then is the rise of a
ruthless power culture in which the
stronger says to the weaker, "You don't
really belong here; you are divisive;
get out!"
Our answer is clear. America needs
more Christian schools, schools in
which the laws of God and the principles of our holy Christian religion are
integrated with all of life and experience and learning in the formative
years. To sponsor more of such schools
is our duty before God.
Our duty is plain. In the providence
of God our organization has gained
some strength in a place of leadership
in this crucially important business of
Christian education. We must spread
the leaven of Christian education. That
is our God-given duty. By His grace
we will do our duty. That is our
answer to Dr. Conant.
Mission Projects In
Southern California
By HENRY W. CORAY
and a half ago, several famA year
ilies from our Long Beach church
moved to Sun Gardens, a rural section
about ten miles east of the city. They
continued to come back into town to
worship until some of them with true
missionary spirit realized that they
owed a debt to the community in
which they were living. That debt
was the gospel.
They located an attractive Boy Scout
headquarters, a log cabin structure,
which they were able to rent for $25
per month. They petitioned the session of First Church to appoint a
stated supply to do the preaching. The
session secured the services of the Rev.
Louis Knowles, who teaches Bible in
the Bellflower Christian school. Since
January of 1951 services of worship
have been held Sunday mornings and
evenings, and a Sunday school and
young people's society have been meeting regularly. Five families have carried the burden of the work. The
Long Beach church has assumed the
salary of the stated supply.
Meanwhile the group has purchased
an excellent lot. By October the lot
should be fully paid for. It is hoped
that before long a church building will
be started. Fortunately, there is a rich
array of building talent represented by
the men of the group. Mr. Knowles
has had to relinquish the preaching
due to pressure of teaching duties, and
the Rev. Paul Lovik has succeeded him
as stated supply. Despite testings and
reverses a true church seems to be in
embryo.
In the spring of 1951 the Rev James
Moore, of the Westminster Orthodox
Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles,
166
and I, began to hold a Tuesday evening
Bible class in the home of Mr. and Mrs.
Francis Olinger, a young couple in the
Long Beach church. The Olingers had
moved to Rivera, a suburb of Whittier,
which is a fast growing residential area
near Los Angeles. In Rivera we called
from door to door and interested a few
people in the study of the Word of
God.
However, interest dwindled
through the summer and some of the
brightest prospects moved away.
In the fall another young couple living in Whittier, friends of the Rev. and
Mrs. Poundstone, learned of our venture and invited us to hold the class in
.The Rev. Henry W. Coray, author of
this article, is a graduate of Westminster
Seminary, class of 1931, and is pastor of
First Orthodox Presbyterian Church of
Long Beach, California.
their home. It seems that they and
several of their friends had tried to
worship at the only Presbyterian U.S.A.
church in the city, and had been unable to put up with the liberalism
preached from the pulpit. Starting
with half a dozen people, interest has
developed so encouragingly in Whittier
that we now have seven or eight families who would love to see an Orthodox
Presbyterian congregation started. This
includes two experienced elders and
some of the finest Christian people we
have ever met. Two of the families
attended our Presbytery Hume Lake
family conference in August, and came
away completely "sold" on the testimony of the church. If ever a home
missionary were needed he is needed
in the Whittier Compton field.
Last December the Christian Reformed church turned over its Compton chapel to our Presbytery. Compton
is a city lying to the north of Long
Beach, and offers a great opportunity.
The chapel will seat 80 people. A Sunday school has reached the 44 mark,
but was down in the summer. Robert
Morris, a Westminster Seminary student, has .been laboring in Compton
under the supervision of our CommitBob has
tee on Home Missions.
worked hard. The visible results have
not been sensational but a good foundation has been laid. Presbytery pays
the Christian Reformed people $40 per
month. This will have completed purchase of the equipment of the chapel by
December of this year. We also have
an option on the building. We should
have a church in Compton some day.
Mr. Moore and I alternate in teaching the Whittier Bible class. Every
other Tuesday evening I have a class in
Lakewood, one of the most amazing
residential sections in the nation, once
written up in Time magazine. Lakewood adjoins Long Beach on the east.
Meeting in the homes of some of my
members, it has been my privilege to
instruct inquirers whom the members
have invited in. Three Jewish people
have attended the last two classes. One
is a college professor, another a young
lady who has cast off her Jewish orthodox faith and is now dabbling in Christian Science. She frankly confesses her
dissatisfaction with the cult. Whether
a church will flower from the Lakewood project or not, we do not know.
It is too early to say.
Other doors are opening in California. Mr. Moore is confident he can begin a witness in Temple City-Arcadia
this fall. Our First Church in San
Francisco is sending a gospel team to
Sacramento where Mr. and Mrs. Richard Slyfield have opened their home
for meetings. Two churches are holding prison services on Sunday afternoons. In California as everywhere in
these desperate days, the fields are
white unto harvest.
These experiments, humble as they
are, have given me a profound conviction of one thing: it is possible to raise
a testimony for historic Christianity
without formal equipment and with a
minimum of financial investment. I
commend the plan to other ministers
and sessions in our church.
The Presbyterian Guardian
Carl Paul Caspari
A Tribute to a famous
Old Testament scholar
By EDWARD J. YOUNG
..
It is a noble group--that long line of
scholarly believers in Christ who have
written in defense and exposition of the
Christian Faith. We know Dr. J.
Gresham Machen as the most distinguished defender of the Faith in our
day. He was a great scholar and a
humble believer, and he devoted his
life to the defense of Christianity.
Less well known to us is a converted
Jewish scholar, Carl Paul Caspari, yet
Caspari was a man who had a great
influence in the study of the Old Testament, and who wrote much in its defense. In some interesting respects his
life parallels that of Dr. Machen.
Caspari was born on February 8,
1814 in Dessau of Jewish parents and
was given a Jewish training. When he
was only six years of age he began the
study of Hebrew, and at the age of
eight was already able to read the five
books of Moses in their original language. This practice of reading the
Bible in the original Hebrew was one
which he kept up throughout life, and
it explains in large part how he came
to be such a great Old Testament
scholar.
The Early Years
Caspari was under purely Jewish influences. The constant reading of the
Old Testament produced a profound
effect upon him. At one time, he tells
us, he desired to be wholly immersed
in water in the hope that this would
make him completely clean. At another time, while in the synagogue, he
was deeply impressed with the majesty
of the Law of God, and the thought
came to him that it would be a wonderful thing to dedicate his whole life to
the fulfillment of God's Law. This
was evidently not a mere 'passing
thought, for Caspari kept with him a
deep sense of the greatness of the commands of God and strove desperately
to obey them.
At this time he was thrown into contact with Franz Delitzsch, who was
later to become one of Germany's leading Hebrew scholars. Delitzsch had
had his struggles with rationalism and
September 15, 1952
now knew that man could not save
himself. He pointed out to Caspari,
therefore, that it would be impossible
for him to keep the law of God since
he was a sinner and unable to do so.
At this however, Caspari rebelled, for
he was still under the belief that he
could fulfill the Law.
He was now about twenty years of
age and was studying at Leipzig. Here
he added to Hebrew both Arabic and
Persian which he studied under the
The guiding
celebrated Fleischer.
motto of his life was found in the
words of Immanuel Kant, "Thou canst,
because thou shouldst." There was no
doubt in Caspari's mind about the innate goodness of man or the ability of
man to do what he should. Delitzsch's
words seemed to have fallen upon barren soil.
Casparf's Conversion
The Spirit of God works in strange
ways, and the words which the young
Franz Delitzsch spoke were only the beginning. At Leipzig there was a group
of students who had come under evangelical influences and who were ardent
in their belief of the Gospel. One of
these, a youth by the name of Carl
Graul, gave Caspari a copy of the New
Testament and urged him to read it.
As far as is known this was the first
Testament which Caspari had seen.
He began to read in the book of Acts
how the Jews persecuted the Apostle
Paul and was struck with the accurate
description of the Jewish people. At
first his reading was only from curiosity and interest, but later he read to
learn the truth. It was while he was
reading the Gospel of John that he first
saw Jesus Christ as his Saviour from
sin. Then he realized, as he never
could have done before,· how utterly
fallacious were Kant's words which
previously had been his motto. Now
he saw that all his good works were
not good and that because of his sins,
he could never obey the Law of God.
He needed, as the Gospel of John
makes so clear, a Saviour to save him
from his sins.
We next learn that he joined a catechism class held in the Petrikirche in
Leipzig and soon was baptized and
became a member of the church. Later
his two sisters also were baptized. It
is well to remark in passing about
something that should be obvious. It
is that we may never know how God
will use the words which we have
spoken to others. Franz Delitzsch was
a witness to Jesus Christ. His efforts
seemed to go without result. Yet
doubtless they were the seed which the
Holy. Spirit sowed in the heart of
young Caspari. When we read an account such as this, we should be more
faithful than ever in our duty of speaking to others the message of salvation.
We may never know when we are
talking to a Carl Paul Caspari.
Caspari The Scholar
It was now evident to the young student that he was to spend his life in the
scholarly study and defense of the Old
Testament. For two years he studied
at Berlin under Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg, who was probably the greatest
Old Testament scholar that God ever
gave to His Church. Caspari learned
all the arguments of the "critical"
scholars and he also learned how to
answer them. He began immediately
to write. One of his first works was
on a subject in the Arabic language.
This was followed by a commentary on
Obadiah, which is one of the most
complete and helpful works on that
book that the present writer has ever
seen.
Next Caspari produced an Arabic
Grammar which has proved to be the
standard work on the subject. A
knowledge of the Arabic language is
essential for anyone who intends to do
serious work in the Old Testament,
and Caspari's work was so good that it
has been revised and re-edited several
times. It is widely used today.
An invitation now came to teach as
the successor of Havernick at Konigsberg. Havernick, like Caspari, had
been a staunch defender of the Bible.
However, Caspari felt that there were
tendencies at Konigsberg which were
not in accord with strict Lutheranism,
and so he declined the invitation. More
and more his interest centered upon the
book of Isaiah.
Then came a strange event indeed.
A call was received from the Univercity
of Christiana in Norway to serve there
as the Professor of Old Testament.
This must have been staggering. It
167
meant that Caspari would have to teach
in Norwegian and he did not know a
word of that language. Such a call
would have daunted many a lesser
man. Not, however, Caspari. He set
to work to learn Norwegian, and he
learned it so well that he could begin
his work of teaching almost immediately. The secret is not that he was a
genius-he was that; the secret was
that he was willing to work. And it
may be remarked that the only way to
learn a language is to work. The reason why most people do not learn languages is simply that they are unwilling
to work. Caspari has set us a fine example of how a Christian should act
under difficult situations. He did not
shirk a difficult responsibility. He overcame the difficulty.
Caspari-Defender of the Faith
For forty-four years he taught in
Christiana. He planned at this time to
publish an all-embracing commentary
on Isaiah, which was one of the great
needs of the church. Franz Delitzsch,
his deeply devoted friend was beginning to waver in his views respecting
the authorship of Isaiah. He began to
come under the influence of the widely
prevailing view that the last twentyseven chapters of the book were not
written by Isaiah. This troubled Caspari greatly. Probably there was no
man living who was as much of an
authority on Isaiah as Caspari, and he
knew well the weakness of the prevalent critical views and also their destructive consequences. Hence he wrote to
Delitzsch in a friendly and loving tone,
urging him not to embrace the "modern" view of the authorship of the
prophecy. Perhaps his letter had some
effect, for Delitzsch never completely
abandoned the New Testament view of
the authorship of the prophecy.
Caspari's commentary, however, was
not to be completed. At that time, a
controversy arose in the Scandinavian
churches, which centered about a
Bishop Grundtvig. Grundtvig is becoming well-known today, and men
are turning their attention to him. Suffice it to say that he espoused views
which Caspari thought were destructive of the true Christian Faith. In
order to expose the error of these views
and to defend the historic Faith Caspari engaged in diligent research. He
was vigorous in his defense of the
Truth and in the part which he played
in the courts of the church. Thus, he
reminds us of Dr. Machen.
168
Those who knew him spoke highly
of his fine character and true humility.
He was one of those who was willing
to lead a life of comparative seclusion
in order that he might teach the Word
of God to young men who were studying for the ministry. His great commentary 'on Isaiah was not finished, but
his life was a strong witness to the
truth as it is in Jesus.
The church needs men like Caspari.
The church needs believing scholars.
Indeed, one of the greatest needs of the
present-day church is for a believing
and humble scholarship. The really
great commentary, which Caspari began, has not yet been completed. It is
a need for which the church is still
waiting. Perhaps some young man
who reads these lines will see the need
of true Biblical scholarship and will
devote his life to that work. The need
is great, for the unbelief which troubled
the church of Caspari's day, is likewise
troubling the Church of today. Who
will face the challenge?
Why Should Reformed
Preaching Be Dull?
A Forthright Message calls for
a Forceful Presentation
By W. STANFORD REID
T
H IS is a question which should
make a great many people sit up
and wonder, for it begs a good many
other questions. The author first came
in contact with it in concentrated form
at Westminster Seminary when attending the latest Commencement Exercises. More than one alumnus of the
Seminary, as well as those who were
not alumni, made the comment that
most Reformed preachers which they
hear today, while thoroughly orthodox
and very sound, are yet inclined to be
dull and uninspired. One man, himself a good preacher, made the query:
"Can't they even let a bit of a yell out
of them now and then?" Another confessed that one or two people in his
own experience had made their decision for Christ under the impact of
some travelling evangelist, although all
their training, both before and after,
had been under him. He concluded:
"It is terribly humbling, to have such
an experience." The writer must confess that he too has often wondered,
while listening to "sound" Reformed
preaching, why there could not be a
little more "sound" in it. The preacher
should be heralding the Word, not
whispering hope, as some seem to
think.
Historically speaking, there is no reason for Reformed preaching being dull.
As one looks back over the history of
the Reformed churches, there have
been men who have not only been
theologically sound, but who have pro-
claimed the Word as heralds with all
the emphasis and power they possessed. All one has to do is to read the
accounts of the preaching of such men
as Knox, Calvin, Whitefield, Chalmers,
Spurgeon and others of their stature.
In our own day, many of us have sat
and listened to Dr. Machen who was
anything but a dull preacher, or have
sat amazed at the ability of Dr. Martin
Lloyd Jones of Westminster City
Chapel, London, to present forcefully,
interestingly and powerfully, the Reformed Faith. The Gospel, which the
Reformed preacher expounds in all its
fullness, should never be dull but
should be full of life and power.
What then is the reason for this dullness of preaching? Some people say
that it must be a matter of personality;
but that would not seem to be a sufficient explanation. Men who are vivacious and full of life in ordinary conversation, in the pulpit are frequently
dull and uninspired, "buzzing away
like a bumble-bee o'er our heads." Nor
is it just a matter of training, for so
often the professors of practical theology in Reformed seminaries, try hard
to make their students liven up their
sermons. No, it would seem to be a
matter of principle. The writer, himself, at one time had the idea that it
was the only proper way to preach, but
he is thankful that he has since seen
how un-Reformed is this point of view.
It seems that very frequently this
dullness results from a complete mis-
The Presbyterian Guardian
interpretation of the Calvinistic position. The Holy Spirit, so the thinking
goes, is the only one who can bring
conversion or sanctification to the soul.
He alone gives action. Therefore, what
I have to do is set forth the intellectual
propositions contained in the Scriptures: all men are sinners, Christ died
for sinners, sinners can be justified by
faith alone, etc., etc. If I do that
clearly, unswervingly and unemotionally, then the Spirit can work on the
hearts of the hearers, and the elect will
be effectually called, justified and sanctified. For this reason, anything but
humanly dull preaching is in danger
of interfering with the work of the
Spirit.
Now, this has been stated here in
more absolute terms perhaps, than
many actually employ in their thinking, but it would seem that this is the
fundamental point of view. Moreover,
there is no doubt that despite its defects
God does use this type of preaching.
He uses all preaching of the Word for
if He depended upon nothing but perfect preaching, there would be none
saved. At the same time, it is very necessary to make a clear distinction between preaching and the setting forth
of intellectual propositions, as in a
university lecture. The preacher is not
a lecturer, he is a herald who in God's
stead, beseeches men to be reconciled to
God. Preaching, therefore, is not just
an attempt to reach the intellect by the
intellect, it is something far more allembracing.
For one thing preaching is an effort
to reach the whole personality of man
with the Gospel. Man is not merely
an intellectual being. He has also
esthetic tastes and appetites. That is
why we talk about applying our Reformed position to the understanding
of art and music, and why we have
contests for novels with a Christian
point of view. But man is even more.
He has a will, and convinced against
that will he is of the same opinion still.
The Scriptures sum man up, by speaking of his "heart" which includes all of
man's psyche. It is this whole man
which one must attempt to reach when
preaching the Gospel.
It would seem logical, therefore, that
if this is the case, one must not only
preach "to the heart," he must preach
"from the heart." One's whole personality must be employed in proclaiming the Word of God. One uses his
whole personality in most of his other
September 15, 1952
Grass Roots
By R. K. Churchill
In the back seat of the Buick again,
this time we are driving across Minnesota on the homeward stretch. Yesterday we passed through the Badlands,
South Dakota. It's passing strange
what strength and beauty can be revealed in such a place. Surely the
Creator is not limited by any material.
Here are piles of eroded mud, chaste
and barren, and yet in such a place the
earth doth shout "glory."
Over the 'week-end' we were in
Yellowstone Park. Attended church
services near 'Old Faithful'-several
hundred in attendance. The minister
preached from the text, "God is love."
'Old Faithful' is a geyser which erupts
about every hour, sending a stream of .
boiling water and steam high into the
air. We also saw the 'Mud Volcano' and
the 'Dragon Mouth Spring.' The boiling, steaming mud, the incessant heatbillows driving upward from the
bowels of the earth, the evil smell of
sulphur gases, and the sense of heat
and putrifaction bring to mind the
descriptions of Hell which our Lord
gave. Here I think many people do
some serious thinking for I reckon
there is more Hell in Yellowstone than
in the whole of modern preaching.
People may walk near these boiling
springs and volcanoes, but there are
many signs around which say: "Danger: Thin Crust." What if this thin
crust should break?
In the old days, Jonathan Edwards
preached thus: "Man is on the brink
of Eternity. Unconverted man walks
over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places
too weak to hold his weight. These
places are inconceivably many and all
unseen by men." In those days, men
took the Kingdom of Heaven by storm.
"Danger: Thin Crust" could be placed
activities, why not in the greatest work
of all. Basically, of course, the preaching of the Word is a setting forth of
the truth, an intellectual matter. Here
is where so many sentimental modernists and sentimental fundamentalists
fall down. To them the truth, the facts
of the Gospel are secondary. But the
Reformed preacher will never fall into
on our whole culture. No, we don't
have a culture, it is mere civilization.
What about those moral qualities
which recommend a nation or the
commonwealth of nations to God's
merciful providence? It's only a thin
crust under which many kinds of hell
are boiling. We must have the true
religion and it must go very deep.
Alas for the religious triflers of this
generation. They can't even get to
church twice on Sunday-they find
Bible Study and prayer 'inconvenient.'
"Danger: Thin Crust." Today a revivalism is abroad which teaches people
to by-pass the little struggling church
and go to big mass meetings where
hundreds get religion-pronto. The
Church, The Christian School, The
Theological Seminary, The Catechism,
standing for the Truth-all this is of
secondary importance, or scarcely worth
considering. The big Union Meeting,
the big names, and especially the statistics-brother, this is it! Well I am one
who often groans for revival, but over
this kind of revivalism I would like to
write in flaming letters that sign which
I saw in Yellowstone: "Danger: Thin
Crust."
While in Seattle one Sunday evening, we attended the Christian Reformed Church. I never attend a C. R.
Church but I come away saying,
"Those Dutchmen have something."
Among the many things they have is a
high view of the church and the home,
and a good sense of worship in the
church. These are the missing notes
in Protestantism today. I have often
felt that until these missing notes are
brought back the Devil will not tremble
very much at all our evangelism.
I have written twice about this trip
west, and I'm not through yet. There
is a lot to see and hear and think about
in seven thousand miles.
this error. He is much more inclined
to forget that he is speaking to men
with feelings and will. But if he would
be a true preacher, his feeling for the
glory and the grace of God revealed in
the Gospel must show itself. Moreover, he must have the sense of urgency
which the Gospel demands. How can
(See "Reid," p. 176)
169
Missionary Society Page
By MRS. JOHN P. GALBRAITH
Christmas in Oc:tober
ONE
HUNDRED
AND
ONE
DAYS
'TIL
CHRISTMAs-that sounds like a long
way 00, does it not? However, as we
glance at our maps and see the great
expanse of land and sea between us
and Eritrea, Formosa, Korea and
Japan, it is not too early to be thinking
about Christmas gifts for our missionaries and the people in the mission
fields. At least, if we have not thought
about it before, it is about time for us
to begin now! This brings to our
mind the way in which one of our
churches, Immanuel Orthodox Presbyterian Church of West Collingswood,
New Jersey, holds a Christmas party
each October for ministers. We have
therefore, asked Miss Marjorie Pascoe,
of that church, who has been most
active in promoting this party each
year, to describe just how they do it.
"It is not necessary to issue the usual
party invitation to this party because
every member of our congregation has
known for a long time that he has a
date for the second Saturday evening
of each October. (It usually climaxes
a three-day Missionary Conference.)
"Previous to the time of the Christmas party, there is a great deal of activity on the part of the men, women, and
children. We shall give you a glimpse
of some of the things that have been,
and are being, done.
"First of all, let us look in on the
women. During the summer months
many pairs of mittens and gloves have
been knitted, even a few scarfs and
some of those bright woolen 'beanies'
the boys love so much. The wool for
these projects has been purchased by
one of the women's organizations and
directions have been given out to assist
with the making of these articles. For
those who have not mastered the art of
knitting, there is always some other
task to be undertaken. Another group
of women has gathered once a month
to sew and from this little group come
baby clothes, dresses and play clothes
for children, possibly dresses for the
ladies, and quilts. Still another group
has been cutting and sewing odd shapes
out of bits of gingham, chintz, or per170
cale, the finished product being stuffed
animals for small babies, and bean bags
for older children.
"Not only have the women been
busy preparing for this party, but we
find the men interested too. Men
know what other men need, so the
Men's Bible Class has been collecting
socks, ties, shirts, shaving cream, razor
blades, handkerchiefs, writing paper,
and other miscellaneous articles.
"In sufficient time before the party,
each department in the Sunday School
is furnished with the name of one of
our missionary families, listing the
names and ages of the children in the
family. We find that the boys and girls
in the Sunday School take great delight in selecting gifts for children in
distant lands. They are instructed to
designate for whom the gift is intended, but are not to wrap it. (This
is done at a later date when the gifts
are sorted for mailing.) One class of
young married women dresses dolls,
and another makes aprons. The Sunday School itself has also a sum of
money in its budget to meet any additional needs. (For example, last year
one of our missionaries requested
twenty Bibles to be given as very special Christmas gifts, and these were
purchased by the Sunday School.)
"Finally, after all this preparation,
the night of the Christmas party arrives. Everyone, young and old, is excited, and pleased too, about the gift he
is bringing. We gather in the church,
illuminated only from the lights of a
completely trimmed real Christmas tree
and a spot light thereon. We sing
well-known Christmas carols, read
from Scripture the account of the birth
of the Saviour, and have special Christmas music by members of the Sunday
School. Then, too, a party is not really
PROBLEM MINUTE
Answer to Problem No. 10Mark 1l:I7.
PROBLEM No. 11
What verse in Luke shows how Jesus
grew physically, mentally, socially and
spiritually?
a party without games so we have arranged for a missionary quiz, or something of that kind. Should any children of our missionaries be in the
vicinity (either home on furlough or
attending school locally), we arrange to
have them come dressed in native costume and be at the Christmas tree
when person after person files down
the aisle to leave his gift at the tree (or
hand it to the missionary children if
any are present). Sometimes it will be
a bit hard for Little Mary to part with
a doll that her mommy dressed for her
to give at the party, or for little Johnny
to give up the car which daddy purchased for him to give, but then little
Mary and little Johnny will notice that
other children are parting with their
gifts and that the doll and car will not
look too lonesome under the tree with
the many, many other gifts. Also,
Mary and Johnny will be told about the
many children in other lands who do
not even have one doll, or one car,
while they have so many toys at home.
Everyone will be reminded, too, that
'it is more blessed to give than to
receive.'
"After the gathering of the gifts, a
missionary film may be shown, and, of
course, refreshments will be served.
When the party comes to an end, all
return home, happy in their participation in Christmas with our missionary
families on their fields."
(
A
Eritrean Field Needs
Medical Missionaries
In the July issue we listed some of
the medical supplies that were needed
by our missionaries in Eritrea.
Here are excerpts from letters by the
Rev. Clarence W. Duff. He tells of the
extensive medical work, and reveals
clearly the need for medical help (a
doctor and nurses). Will this need be
met?
"We've been nearly swamped with
medical work. Between May 1St and
28th there were 1636 treatments, or an
average of 68 per weekday. The record
was 104 one Monday. Some mornings
The Presbyterian Guardian
t
!
,
"
Francis (Mahaffy), Herb (Bird) and I
worked with Johannes (one of our
native helpers) and we had Kiflom
working too part of the time. Kiflom
is our colporteur but he has had some
experience working with Italian doctors and has some sort of certificate for
medical work. Johannes is really wonderful. He gets through a lot of work
and is fine interrogating people about
their ills and explaining what they are
to do about them. It is a tremendous
job just persuading folks to wait their
turns. They push in until the room is
crowded unless one keeps the door
closed and even then when anyone goes
out others crowd in. It takes an enormous amount of energy just talking to
people, finding out how their sores began, what their fevers are, what kind
of dysentery they have, warning them
to keep coming until their sores are
well, and urging some of them to go to
a doctor or hospital. It takes twice as
much time and energy to persuade
some of them that we can do nothing
for them as it would to treat them if
we could do it. There are so many
things that are beyond us, but so often
there is little hope that they will go
elsewhere to get what they need, or
get it if they do. The local dispensary
has fewer medicines than ever, it
seems. A doctor from Massawa comes
once a week for an hour or two. Frequently when we have sent someone to
him, he sends him back to us with a
note asking us to give some medicine
that he does not have. They do not
have sulfa tablets, practically no malaria medicine and not even castor oil
anymore. The malaria is letting up a
bit now that hot dry weather has come
in the lowlands, but we are still getting
a good many cases. We have had
dozens of cases of bacillary dysentery
the last few months, a lot of them from
one particular section of the country.
Sulfadiazine has worked wonders for
them.
"What bothers me most are the-little
babies whose ills are hard to diagnose
and who have not the strength to take
much medicine anyway. They need so
much better care than they can have at
home. We often do not know what to
do for them, but there is so little likelihood that they will get any help if we
do nothing. The mothers insist on
bringing them to us, and so seldom are
willing to take them to a hospital even
if they could.
"We do treat a lot of babies with
September 15. 1952
TELLING THE GOOD NEWS
by Bruce F. Hunt
Due to shortage of space, the
series by Mr. Hunt will not
appear in this issue.
burns, itch and sore eyes, and some
with colds and malaria. But there are
so many things that one just does not
know, and the strain of deciding
whether they will get any other help if
we do not, is the worst of it.
"We've had a number of horrible
sores to treat recently. I doubt if anyone in the U.S.A. ever sees anything to
compare with them. I do not think
anyone at home would ever let a sore
get that bad before going to a doctor.
One wonders why they do not get
gangrene and die, but the infection
seems to localize. I think all of them
have responded to treatment, though
sometimes the treatment had to be
changed several times to find out what
would work.
"A little Saho girl, of about 13 years
I suppose, came some months ago with
a bad sore on her ankle. She began to
improve and then disappeared. Recently her father brought her back.
He said they had not been able to keep
coming before because the crops had to
be harvested. The sore was in horrible
condition. It took days of soaking and
salt packs to get near any flesh. Then
I had to burn it a couple of times all
over with silver nitrate crystals before
any medicine could do any good. She
was in terrible pain with the sore when
she came. For a week or so she could
hardly stand having it touched and
cried when we dressed it. It amazed
me how it began to heal, though. After
getting some of the rotten flesh cleared
away, we sprinkled penicillin crystals
on it. It was not very long before it
was good clean flesh and we could
leave it for three or four days between
dressings. She had been staying right
on our place. Her father was very
good about caring for her, bringing her
food, etc. She would lie on the grass
under the trees during the day and her
father, or sometimes a sister, would
come to stay with her at night under
the stars. We asked them to pay down
some money in advance and we agreed
to treat her until she was well. We do
this because if they pay something, they
are a little more likely to keep coming
for treatment because they want to get
their money's worth.
"A few of the cases we sent away.
One of these was a badly burned baby
whose burns we dressed temporarily
and we persuaded the father to take it
to the hospital in Asmara. It got practically well but was sent back to us for
the finishing touches. Another was a
little girl with chest all deformed from
tuberculosis, presumably, and with a
draining sore in her back. She had
suffered so much and long that she
screamed if one just looked at the sore.
We told the mother that she must take
her to a doctor but doubt very much if
she would do it. Still another was a
girl of about eight years with a terrible
hump-back, also I suppose from tuberculosis. Some time previously two
rows of four big brands each had been
burnt on her back, leaving great round
scars. What they wanted us to treat,
though, was a new set of brands on her
chest. I could not see how many burns
there were for the whole chest was a
great burn covered with a thick, yellow
oozing dirty mass. We had treated
rows of brands all scabbed over and
pussy a good many times but this was
over so large a surface that it seemed
dangerous to attempt it without hospitalization. I still wonder if we did
right, though, in refusing to treat her
for I doubt very much whether they
would take her to the hospital. I hope
at least that they took her to the government clinic but I do not know.
"They beg of us to do all kinds of
things and will not believe that we cannot do them. What a job there is for
a doctor out here! Or, a nurse could
do so much!
"All this, of course, takes so much of
our time and thought. We ought to be
doing a lot of other things, but it gives
us one of our best opportunities to witness to people from every direction
about Ghinda, and to all classes including many Moslem men and women
who would be difficult to reach otherwise. Some get impatient when we
take time out for Scripture reading and
a short message and prayer but there
are always a good many who listen.
A good many more Mohammedans and
Tigre-speaking people hear at the clinic
than in the Sunday meetings in town."
Birds at Senafe
L
AT E ST word is that the Rev. and
Mrs. Herbert Bird and family have
moved to Senafe with the Mahaffy
family.
171
r
Orthodox Presbyterian
Church News
Franklin Square, N. Y.: Elders
Hansen and Wallace, the Rev. William
Richie, and Mr. Dirk Dondorp conducted services at the Franklin Square
church while the pastor was absent for
the General Assembly. Plans for a
building are going forward as rapidly
as possible.
Wilmington, Del.: The Summer
Bible school at Eastlake church had an
average attendance of 103 this year,
with a staff of 26. A nearby building
was made available for the pre-school
children. Six members were added to
the church at the June communion.
Glenside, Pa.: Progress on fixing up
a parking area adjacent to Calvary
church was slowed this summer by a
labor union strike. With the strike
settled, it is expected the area will be
smoothed and surfaced in the near
future. The September meeting of
Philadelphia Presbytery is scheduled
for Calvary Church.
Middletown, Penna.: The Rev.
Robley Johnston has arrived in Middletown to assume the pastorate of Calvary church.
Pittsburgh, Penna.s Eight young
people from Covenant Church attended
the Seneca Hills Conference early in
August. Recent guest preachers at
Covenant Church have been the Rev.
Lawrence Eyres and the Rev. Roy
Oliver.
East Orange, N. J.: On September
7 under the direction of Covenant
church, worship services were started
in the Allwood section of Clifton,
where Sunday school classes have been
meeting since March. In order that
the pastor of Covenant, the Rev.
Charles Ellis, may conduct the service
at Allwood, the time of the home
church service has been put back to
ILI5 a.m.
Middletown, Del.: Members of
Grace church enjoyed a fellowship outing at the home of Mrs. Stanley Elliot
on August 13. The Sunday school enjoyed its annual picnic the same week.
The church has purchased a secondhand school bus, and a Sunday school
bus route has been established. Over
twenty persons have used the bus each
Sunday, and nearly that many for the
young people on Friday evenings.
Grove City, Pa,e A fellowship gathering of members of Wayside, Faith,
and New Hope churches was held on
the Wayside church grounds recently.
A large group was present, to enjoy the
Tureen supper, games and hymn sing
with which the program was closed.
Improvements to the church property
include the installation of new windows in the church, and the illumination of the church sign. During the
fall the YP group expects to use Bible
study work books published by Eerdmans for the Christian Reformed
Church.
Portland, Oreg.: A representative
of the Pocket Testament League, re-
cently returned from Japan, spoke at
the June meeting of the men's forum.
About 40 men attended the meeting.
Average attendance at the summer
Bible school was 90, with some twenty
persons on the staff.
Santee, Calif.: The most successful
Bible school in the history of Valley
Church was held in June, with 88 enrolled. The facilities of the building,
and the faculties of the teachers were
taxed to the limit. Over 20 members
of the church attended the Hume Lake
Family conferences, sponsored by the
Presbytery of California.
San Francisco, Calif.: Chaplain
Lynne Wade USN who has been stationed at the Oakland Naval Hospital,
has been assigned a period of sea duty.
He is moving his family to Los
Angeles. Young People gather at First
Church each Monday evening for a
social time. A number of visitors have
been attracted to the meetings.
Berkeley, Calif.: Large attendances
at Covenant church morning and evening greeted former pastor Robert
Churchill on July 20, when he was
guest preacher. A congregational picnic on Saturday evening was for the
Churchill family.
Long Beach, Calif.: About 65 delegates from First church attended the
Hume Lake Family Conference. This
was the largest delegation from any
church of the presbytery.
Volga, S. D.: Sixteen young people
with the pastor's family attended the
young people's conference at Camp
Judson at Pactola in the Black Hills.
The Conference is sponsored by the
Presbytery of the Dakotas. On Missionary Sunday in August the guest
speaker was the Rev. Frank Fiol, West-
;
Delegates, members of their families, and friends attending the Nineteenth General Assembly of The Orthodox Presbyterian Church
in Denver. The weather was warm, and informal attire was the rule rather than the exception, even for commissioners.
172
The Presbyterian Guardian
minster Seminary graduate who has
been a missionary in India with the
Independent Board. The offering received for the missions committees of
the church amounted to $800. The
local school board has granted the request of the ministerial association to
permit a released time Bible instruction
program during the coming year.
General Assembly
Notes
the August issue we gave an exI Ntended
report of the business of the
Orthodox Presbyterian Assembly which
met in Denver in July. A few additional notes about the gathering may be
of interest.
First, there were two errors in the
report which have been called to our
attention. The next Assembly will convene on Thursday, June 4, 1953, instead of on the date we gave. Apparently we were dull of hearing when
that amendment was passed.
And the representative of the American Home Bible League is a layman,
Mr. William Ackerman, and not the
Rev. Walter Ackerman, as we identified him. We thank those who called
these errors to our attention.
On the Saturday afternoon of the
Assembly, the Denver church had arranged for the delegates to take time
for a visit to Mt. Evans in the Rockies,
some 40 miles from Denver. This is
the highest peak in the vicinity, and
has a road practically to the top, described as the highest automobile road
in the world. At the end of the road,
from which one can (?) walk to the
summit, is a lodge with lunch counter
and souvenir store. More than one
person who went on the trip arrived at
the lodge with his head swimming
(altitude about 14,200 feet). A sign in
the lodge said, "Please be seated when
room is in motion." We knew what
the sign meant.
The view from the summit, as can
be imagined, was magnificent. Back
down a way, we stopped at Echo Lake
for a picnic supper of sandwiches and
coffee. Mr. Male and Dan Stuckey
climbed on the "chuck wagon" and
entertained the crowd with western
songs.
Sunday proved to be a busy day for
some of the delegates. There are two
Christian Reformed churches in Denver, with morning services at 9.30 a.m.
Some of the folks decided to attend a
C. R. church first, and then go to the
Park Hill Orthodox Presbyterian
church for the I I a.m, service. It was
all right, except that the C. R. churches
werehaving communion, and the service was longer than usual. There were
a number of late arrivals at Park Hill.
On Sunday afternoon Dr. Ned B.
Stonehouse preached at a special Assembly service held at the Assembly
grounds. And with another service at
Park Hill in the evening, the day was
well taken up.
One of the delegates, the Rev. John
P. Clelland, was called home to conduct a funeral service. That he might
miss neither the Assembly nor a few
days of planned vacation, provision was
made for him to travel by plane. He
left Denver Tuesday night, conducted
the service in Wilmington, Delaware,
on Wednesday afternoon, and was back
in Denver Wednesday about midnight.
Another of the delegates, the Rev. John
Hills, came by plane from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
The Rev. Mr. Male, who was in
general charge of arrangements, reported that the dining hall came out
almost exactly even on the financial
end of things.
Mahaffy at Senafe
Following are excerpts from a news
letter sent out by the Rev. Francis
Mahaffy, Orthodox Presbyterian missionary in Eritrea, under date of July
14:
"Less than two weeks ago we finally
moved to Senafe, one of the' most picturesque spots in all of Eritrea. The village is located in a pretty' valley with
the high Soira plateau and mountains
rising off to the east and with majestic
rocks jutting up to 2,000 feet above the
village to the west. From the top of
the highest rocks one gets a breath-taking view of the country for miles
around . . . Senafe is quite an ideal
climate, although after living along the
hot coastal plain when the temperature
drops below 60 degrees at this altitude
of 8,000 feet we find it uncomfortably
cold. The immense rugged rocks of
Senafe are a challenge to anyone who
likes to climb as I do. Even John and
James enjoy exploring the caves in the
sides of the nearby mountains, and will
not be fully satisfied until the day they
surmount the top of the highest peak
with their daddy. There is nothing
more refreshing after a day's hard work
at translating than a climb in the
mountains of rock . . .
"The Senafe-Adi Caieh area is the
With two or three exceptions, all the men in these pictures were regular delegates at the Assembly. Most of them are pastors of
congregations. The Moderator, the Rev. Calvin K. Cummings, is eighth from the left of the men kneeling in the above picture.
September 15, 1952
173
(
logical and ideal place for our Saho
work during this half of the year, for
many of the semi-nomadic people leave
the hot coastal plains for these regions
at this season and we can continue our
work of bringing the gospel to them.
Next winter when they again move to
the coast, we plan to return to Irafalo
for the season to reach the Saho and
nearby Dankali tribes.
"The highland area is a mixture of
the permanent and nomadic Saho and
the permanent Tigrinya peoples. The
Birds (Herbert S. Bird family) are at
present in Ghinda, but will move to
Senate when there is a house ready for
them. They have begun to study the
Tigrinya language in preparation for
work among the Tigrinya speaking
Coptic peoples here. Just this morning
we signed a contract for the Mission' to
rent a house for them and we expect
the house will be ready in a few weeks.
"The house the Birds will occupy is
near the foot of the largest of the Senafe rocks. From their house they can
look up the sheer cliff of the rock some
thousand or fifteen hundred feet and
see a small Coptic church built in a
cave in the cliff in one of the most inaccessible places imaginable. In fact, it
is impossible to reach the church without the use of ropes. It must have been
quite an amazing feat to construct the
church in such a place. Some of the
natives insist that it was not built by
any men but by a saint.
"There is another Coptic church half
way up the mountain in the yard of
which is a wheelbarrow containing the
bones of some hermit who spent his life
in an inaccessible cave of the mountain.
The Mariology, saint worship, faith in
dead forms and dependence on a system of merit for salvation of the Coptic
Church is almost as hard an obstacle to
surmount as the spirit of self-sufficiency
generated by the Moslem religion. But
the Holy Spirit working through the
Gospel can change their hearts.
"Upon arrival here we found a very
good. Saho language informant with
whose help I have been translating the
Children's Catechism into Saho. Tomorrow I expect to finish that translation and go on with more Bible stories.
This week we hope to rent a room in
the native village and to begin Saho
Bible classes, evangelistic meetings, and
Bible pictures. Pray that this season's
work here may result in souls brought
into the Kingdom and the true Church
of Christ established in this area."
174
Will Not Dismiss Ministers
To U. P. Church
H E New Jersey Presbytery of The
T Orthodox
Presbyterian Church,
meeting earlier this year, decided that it
could not properly grant letters of dismission to ministers desiring to enter
the United Presbyterian Church.
The. question of dismissing ministers
to the U. P. denomination has been
under consideration in N. J. Presbytery
since 1949. A committee appointed in
that year reported in January, 1951. A
second committee was appointed at
that time, and the action of the Presbytery taken this year is based on the
report of this second committee.
This report deals with two aspects of
the question. It first considers the
principles involved in the general procedure of granting letters of dismission.
It then studies the application of these
principles in the case of the U. P.
Church.
With respect to the principles involved, the report reads in part:
"If a Presbytery issues a letter of dismission for one of its ministers, that
minister has a right to assume that in
the judgment of the Presbytery the new
relationship contemplated in the transfer is not sinful. If, however, the
Presbytery refuses to issue such a letter,
the refusal should indicate the Presbytery is not satisfied that the contemplated relation is right. This should
place a tremendous restraint upon the
minister and compel him earnestly to
consider the contemplated change, for
the only time he has a right to act contrary to the judgment of the Presbytery
is when he is persuaded that the judgment of the Presbytery, in a matter in
which the Presbytery has proper jurisdiction over him, is contrary to the
Word of God, since the ordination vow
requires subjection to the Presbytery
only 'in the Lord.'
"In making its decision as to whether
or not the issuing of a letter of dismission in a particular case is proper, the
Presbytery should consider the standards of the church to which the letter
would be issued. If those standards
are un-Reformed or if subscription to
them involves a violation of the ordination vows of The Orthodox Presbyterian Church, then the Presbytery
should not issue such a letter. Also,
even though the standards are Reformed, and no apparent violation of
ordination vows is required by subscription to them, if the denomination,
by official action, has refused to abide
by its standards and continues in the
refusal, then the Presbytery should not
grant to its ministers letters of dismissal to that body."
In the second part of the report, applying its principles in the case of the
U. P. denomination, note was taken of
the abbreviated Preamble and Confessional Statement adopted by the U. P.
Church in 1925. That Preamble declares that wherever the Confessional
Statement "deviates from the Westminster Standards, its declarations are
to prevail."
The report then presents evidence
that some' of the Articles of this Confessional Statement are definitely nonReformed.
Particular reference is
made to the Article on the Atonement
(XIV) which is said to teach a universal rather than a limited or particular
atonement; to the Article on God the
Father (XI), which is described as
teaching a doctrine of the Universal
Fatherhood of God; and to the Articles
on Election (X) and the Holy Spirit
(XIII).
In addition to these errors in doctrine, the report points out that discipline in the U. P. Church is restricted
in an unscripturalmanner, "preventing
a minister from fulfilling his ordination vows as they relate to seeking the
peace and purity of the church." The
following statement from the Preamble
is cited in this connection: "Subscription to the foregoing Subordinate
Standards is subject to the principle
maintained. by our fathers, that the
forbearance which is required by the
law of God is to be exercised toward
any brethren who may not be able fully
to subscribe to the Standards of the
church, while they do not determinedly
oppose them, but follow the things
which make for peace and things
wherewith one may edify another."
The report comments that this forbearance is apparently "designed to
prevent the discipline of anyone who
cannot fully subscribe to the Standards.
For example, a man might subscribe to
everything but the virgin birth, another might subscribe to all but the
doctrine of the Trinity, another might
hold to much of the standards but object to salvation by grace. It would
seem that these persons would be free
from disciplinary action as long as they
The Presbyterian Guardian
did not determinedly oppose those doctrines."
Throughout the committee report
there are numerous citations from an
article by Professor John Murray of
Westminster Seminary which was published in the January 1932 issue of the
magazine Christianity Today. This
article appeared at a time when the
Presbyterian Church U.S.A. was considering union with the United Presbyterian Church.
On the basis of this report, the Presbytery of New Jersey took the following action: "That if a minister of Presbytery desires dismissal to a church not
of like purity in faith and practice, and
cannot be dissuaded, the Presbytery
shall be obliged to grant him a certificate of standing, and shall erase his
name from the roll.
"In view of the restrictions upon
Scriptural discipline and in view of the
un-Reformed character of the abbreviated statements which are part of the
standards of the United Presbyterian
Church, the Presbytery of New Jersey
therefore holds that the United Presbyterian church is not of like purity in
faith and practice, and that therefore
ministers of this Presbytery be not
granted letters of dismission to that
denomination."
Schenectady Church Burns
Its Mortgage
By Raymond M. Meiners
I
T is with deep gratitude and praise
to Almighty God that an important
milestone in the history of Calvary
Orthodox Presbyterian Church, of
Schenectady, N. Y., was observed on
Sunday, June 22, when the mortgage
on the church property was burned.
Preceding the evening service a reception was held on the church lawn,
to which friends and neighbors were
invited. A number of strangers responded to this invitation, and attendance at the evening service was 134
persons.
The congregation was organized in
September, 1938, and was received as
a particular congregation of The
Orthodox Presbyterian Church (then
the Presbyterian Church of America)
on November 4, 1938. On November
II, the Rev. Raymond M. Meiners was
ordained and installed as pastor of the
September 15, 1952
CALVARY CHURCH OF SCHENECTADY
congregation, and has continued in that
position to the present time. The congregation was organized with ten
charter members, and has grown to its
present membership of 87 communicants and 15 baptized infants.
After a year of meeting in quarters
in the downtown section of the city, the
congregation moved to its present location, a church building with a large
corner lot adjoining. Located at Rugby
Road and Glenwood Boulevard, the
building was originally constructed by
the New York Congregational Conference, and was used for church services for a few years. In 1929, it was
sold to the City of Schenectady which
used it as a police precinct until about
1935, when it was turned into a storage
place for voting machines and balloting
equipment.
In October, 1939, the congregation of
Calvary Church began meeting in the
basement, renting the property from
the City, and in January, 1943, it obtained a mortgage and purchased the
property. After extensive repairs and
renovations, including the purchase of
new pews, the building was dedicated
in February, 1944.
Payment of the mortgage has been
made possible by semi-annual "J oash"
services, at which members of the
church have brought their free-will
gifts and pledges. No other fund raising methods have ever been employed.
Following the reception and open
house, the evening service was held in
the auditorium at 7:45. Those taking
part in the mortgage burning ceremony were the members of the session,
R. Y. McCullough, J. F. Wood and A.
L. Henry, members of the board of
Deacons E. W. Jennison, C. K. Soehl
and Edward E. Vezey, [r., the treasurer
of the Church, Mrs. Leona B. Hall,
and representatives of various church
organizations.
After the ceremony was concluded,
the choir under the direction of Mary
Malloch presented the sacred Cantata,
"Penitence, Pardon and Peace," by
Maunder and Bettison.
Stonehouse-Peterson
M
ISS Elsie Mae Stonehouse, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Ned B. Stonehouse, and Mr. William A. Peterson
were united in marriage on Wednesday, September 3. The ceremony, performed by the bride's father, was held
in the Broadway A venue Christian Reformed Church of Grand Rapids.
175
Seneca Hills Conference
By Frank Breisch
to the heart of every ScotsD EAR
man in the Orthodox Presbyterian
Church would have been the Seneca
Hills Bible Conference, as the MacDonalds and the MacLarens, the MacIntosh and the MacGregors fought to
uphold the honor of their clans. In a
series of battles on the athletic field and
in Bible drills and contests the four
clans vied for victory. The rivalry was
intense, and the final scores showed
that the MacLarens nosed out the MacDonalds to win the crown.
But not all was fun and frolic. Seneca Hills was primarily a Bible conference, and so there were classes
throughout the morning. The Rev.
Calvin Cummings taught a class on
"Life's Greatest Questions," in which
the young people were given ammunition whereby they might defend their
faith against the godless teaching so
prevelant in the present-day public educational system. There were presented
the Scriptural doctrines of man's origin,
his purpose, his destiny, and his responsibility.
"How to Study the Bible" was the
theme of the classes taught by the Rev.
LeRoy Oliver. The delegates were
given tools which would be useful in
studying and understanding the Word
of God. They were also directed to
the principles underlying a true interpretation of Holy Writ.
In the last hour of the morning, the
Rev. Lawrence Eyres gave an interesting, simple and Scriptural exposition of
"The Last Things." He outlined their
order, using the didactic passages to
clarify the symbolic. In the evening
vesper services, the Rev. Eyres spoke on
the topic "Young People's Problems."
He faced squarely the issues involved
in joining a church, finding one's life
calling, and choosing a life partner.
On Friday night he deviated from his
planned topic in order to present a
warm and sincere challenge to the
campers to give their hearts to God.
Mrs. Dorothy Breisch, R.N., who
was camp nurse, was kept busy attending to sick stomachs, sore throats,
sprained ankles and the like. Among
her patients was the Rev. Kenneth
Meilahn, whose ardor for baseball resulted in a badly sprained ankle. Although absent from one service, Mr.
Meilahn continued on crutches in his
176
task of leading the song services and
providing solos. Thanks to his work
many of the delegates were given an
appreciation of the value of metrical
psalms in the worship of God. But for
many the climactic point of the day
proved to be the devotional period held
in the cabins at night. Mrs. Breisch
and Maxine Fulton were the girls'
counsellors, while the boys were under
the iron hand of Mr. Meilahn and Mr.
Breisch.
All this work was supervised ably by
Mr. Oliver and the Rev. Henry Phillips, who had charge of the clan contests and the athletic program. The
Presbytery of Ohio, which runs the
conference, is already planning for another conference at Seneca Hills next
summer. Although dates are tentative,
it will probably be held early in July.
Both campers and counsellors are looking forward to another blessed week at
Seneca Hills.
Reid
(Continued from p. 169)
one impress men with the need of their
turning, if he talks in a tired voice, as
though he does not care two pins
whether they do or not.
H God had designed the preaching
of the Gospel to be merely a matter of
setting forth intellectual propositions,
He could have used some form of record-player which would have been sufficient; or He might have employed the
angels. But it was His purpose that
the Gospel should be mediated to men, '
by men who had experienced His saving grace. The author has heard Reformed preachers proclaiming the Gospel, as though personally it meant really
nothing to them. It did not show in
their personalities as though it had
ever gripped them. God has saved the
whole of the individual, the whole of
the Preacher; therefore, his whole personality should be employed in proclaiming God's sovereign grace.
As some people read this article, they
are no doubt saying: "This is not Reformed." That of course, is the final
word if it is true. But when one speaks
of the preacher preaching with his
whole personality, it does not mean
that he is slighting the work of the
Holy Spirit. The use of the whole personality in preaching is only effective
by the grace of God and through the
power of the Spirit. The trouble is
that there is a grave tendency, it seems,
in much Reformed preaching towards
the false intellectualism already mentioned and a fundamental denial of the
place of the human agent in the spread
of the Gospel. God not only ordains
the ends, He also ordains the means:
the preacher of the Word. When that
preacher minimizes the importance of
his place in this work, it would seem
that he is ignoring God's ordination of
the means of proclamation, and at the
same time forgetting the responsibility
of the preacher to herald the Gospel to
the best of his ability, to the glory of
God.
All one has to do, is go back to the
Scriptures to see that the preacher must
put everything he has into his work.
Wherever one turns, be it to the prophets of the Old Testament, or to Christ
and the Apostles in the New, there is
still the same characteristic. True, Paul
did not come preaching in the wisdom
of man, but his preaching was no
sleepy lecture. All one has to do is
read the accounts in Acts, to see how
the man proclaimed the Gospel with all
his power. It is no honour to God,
that one should preach the Gospel
feebly, aridly or dully. The Scriptures
clearly say that it should be done diligently, fervently and in the power of
the Spirit.
This will only take place, however,
when the preacher is really convinced
that he is preaching God's Word, and
when he preaches it first to himself.
When the sermon takes hold of him
gripping his very being, then he will
preach with power, for he will know
whereof he speaks. One of the great
weaknesses of Pharasaic preaching was
that while the Pharisees preached very
learnedly and orthodoxly, they had
never been gripped by their own teachings. Christ knew that of which He
spoke. He spoke with authority, not
as the scribes. The same was true of
the Old Testament prophets. They
were full of their message, for they had
heard and therefore they spoke. When
the Gospel of God's sovereign grace
once becomes such a burning fire in a
preacher's heart, his audience will
never complain that his sermons are
dull. They may not like the fact that
the sermons stir them up, and that they
give them no peace, but never will they
be able to ask the question: Must Reformed preaching always be dull?
The Presbyterian Guardian
Book Reviews
Calvinism
B. B. Warfield: CALVIN AS A THEOLOGIAN
AND CALVINISM TODAY. London. S.G.U. 3IP.
This little booklet was first published
in 1909, and is now reissued, with a
foreword by the Rev. W. J. Grier of
Belfast. It contains three addresses bv
Warfield, John Calvin the Theologian,
The Theology of Calvin, and Calvinism Today.
In the first of these addresses, Warfield points out that Calvin was not a
"speculative" theologian, but rather a
Biblical theologian. He refused to go
beyond "what is written." And as a
Biblical theologian, Calvin was preeminently the theologian of the Holy
Spirit. The Institutes is described as a
treatise on the work of God the Holy
Spirit in making God savingly known
to sinful man, and bringing sinful man
into holy communion with God.
In the second article, Warfield finds
the fundamental principle of Calvin's
theology not in any specific doctrines
(as predestination) but in the vision
of God in His majesty. In this central
formative principle there are implied
three elements. Objectively speaking
theism comes to its rights, for God is
seen as the absolute sovereign and all
history the outworking of His purpose.
Subjectively speaking, the religious relation between man and God attains its
purity, in an attitude of absolute dependence upon God in the whole of
life. And soteriologically speaking,
evangelicalism finds its full expression
in that the sinful soul rests in utter
trust upon the grace of God as the sole
source of its salvation.
In the third article, after repeating
this analysis of the fundamental or
formative principle of Calvinism, War·
field notes that the whole tenor of the
present day (this was 1909) was to
reject the Calvinistic outlook. That
God ruled in the world, that man was
dependent on God, that man was helpless to save himself, these were just the
points where .an anti-supernaturalistic
world rebelled. Yet here was consistent Christianity. And this consistent
Christianity is just another name for
Calvinism, which stands alone as the
hope of the world.
Although these addresses were de-
September 15, 1952
livered in 1909, they speak also to our
day. For it is still true that man rebels
against any attack on his own selfsufficiency.
L. W. S.
Hebrew
U. Douglas Young: GRAMMAR OF THE
HEBREW LANGUAGE: A New Approach to the
Hebrew Language and to advanced exegesis
using Hebrew and Romanized Scripts. Grand
Rapids. Zondervan. 1951. 2I4p.
rare possession among
A Ntheextremely
scholars of the Christian
church in its early centuries was the
knowledge of Hebrew, the language
medium of all but a few chapters of the
Old Testament revelation. The Protestant Reformation with its emphasis on
the Scriptures as man's sole canon of
faith and life, witnessed an unprecedented concentration upon the study of
this Scriptural tongue. It is indicative
of the encroachment upon the Christian church of a spirit and doctrine different than those of the Reformation
that today seminary after seminary has
been dropping the study of Hebrew
from the list of courses required of its
students in their preparation for the
Christian ministry.
Amid this general decay it is gratifying to see signs of continuing life here
and there in the Old Testament scholarship of the church. Very vigorous life
indeed is evidenced by the present volume, prepared by Dr. G. Douglas
Young, Professor of Semitic Language,
Literature and History at Shelton College. He too is seriously concerned
with the problem of teaching the
Hebrew language in such a way that
the student will acquire an effective
tool for the exegesis of Scripture. The
Hebrew Bible lying on the preacher's
desk, worn at the place translatedduring Hebrew classes back in Seminary
days, but elsewhere as good as new, is
a common tragedy. One problem has
been that though there are many grammars, none has been very satisfactory
and many would never have found it
necessary to rebate a penny if they had
been unconditionally guaranteed to
stifle any nascent interest the student
might have had in the subject.
In his grammar, Dr. G. D. Young
has used the inductive method, working from the actual text of the Hebrew
Bible from the first lesson. This was
done before by W. R. Harper, but the
present volume improves upon Harper's work in several aspects. For one
thing, Young has better synchronized
the daily reading assignments in the
First Part, with the systematized description of the language in the Second
Part. Moreover, the classification of the
data in the Second Part is not according to the categories of English grammar as is usually the case, but in terms
of the Hebrew phenomena. It is this
description of the language which is
the book's chief excellence.
The author acknowledges his indebtedness to Professor Cyrus H. Gordon his instructor (and this reviewer's
also), especially for the new approach
in explanation of the phonetic structure
of Hebrew. Professor Gordon has
made an original and outstanding contribution to the knowledge of this subject. Our gratitude goes to the author
for his energy in organizing this valuable material and for his encouragement and achievement in constructing
a grammar on this new approach.
As the sub-title indicates, one other
distinctive feature of this grammar is
its use of a romanized script which is
intended to spare the student the difficulty of learning the Hebrew script at
the outset so that he may acquire an
overall picture of the language as easily
as possible. The reviewer has with
similar design started students in Akkadian with the reading of transliteration rather than the cuneiform text.
Nevertheless he does not agree that the
use of romanized script is advisable in
the case of Hebrew; for whereas there
are hundreds of signs in cuneiform,
many with multiple values and varying
forms, there are only twenty-two letters
in the Hebrew alphabet, plus a few
vowel signs.
Furthermore, if the
author had not been obliged to use both
romanized and Hebrew script throughout his book, the whole presentation
would have been considerably simplified-and perhaps it is as important for
the grammar book as for the reading
selections that it appear no more formidable than necessary. It is good to see
that the charitable author continues to
count among "his friends" those who
disagree at this point with his methodology.
MEREDITH
G.
KLINE
177
I
GUARDIAN NEWS
COJ'I\J'I\£ ~rf 1-\'If 0 R
VIEWING THE NEWS FROM THE REUGIOUS NEWS SERVICE AND THE REUGIOUS AND SECULAR PRESS
Regional Conference of I C
in Edinburgh
U
N D E R the name of the Edinburgh
Conference,
the
International
Council of Christian Churches held a
regional gathering in Edinburgh, Scotland for a week beginning July 24.
Elected as officers of this conference
were the Rev. W. J. Grier of the Irish
Evangelical Church, President; the
Rev. G. N. M. Collins and the Rev.
Murdoch MacRae of the Free Church
of Scotland, vice presidents; Mr.
George Fromow of London and the
Rev. J. C. Maris of the Netherlands as
secretaries; and Dr. Edwin Kerr of the
Irish Evangelical Church as treasurer.
The Conference heard reports on the
state of the church and "the work of the
International Council in various parts
of the world. Consideration was given
to setting up a permanent organization
in the British Isles, which would promote the work of the ICCC and seek
to offset the influence of the liberal
British Council of Churches.
A number of resolutions on various
subjects were adopted. The Conference deplored the activities of Dr.
Hewlett Johnson, Dean of Canterbury,
commonly called the "Red Dean" because of his outspoken sympathy for
Communism and urged that some
means be found to remove him from
his position in the church. The Conference expressed its opposition to the
British Council of Churches because of
its inclusion of Unitarian and Free
Christian Churches which deny the
doctrine of the deity of Christ, and because of certain links with Romanizing
groups. True Christians were urged
to separate themselves from the British
Council and seek a fellowship that
would be true to the Word of God.
Exception was taken to the statement
on religion proposed for inclusion in
the United Nations Charter. The statement limits the freedom to manifest
one's religion to limits prescribed by
178
law or necessary to protect public
safety, order, health or morals. The
Resolution noted that such limitations
simply offer to majority religious
groups an excuse in the name of order
or morals to seek state protection and
suppress opposition.
A program for taking the Bibles behind the Iron Curtain was proposed.
Bibles would be carried in small balloons. The method is at present being
used for propaganda purposes.
A call was issued to mission agencies
to sever connection with the modernist
World Council of Churches, and to
avoid all compromising alliances with
false cults or pagan practices on the
mission field. The efforts of the World
Council of Churches to bring about a
union of all Christendom, including
Roman and Greek Catholic groups,
were criticized as destroying the very
nature of the Protestant faith. And the
errors in doctrine and practice of the
Romanist communion were denounced,
with the hope expressed that national
governments would avoid all forms of
intolerance.
Church Membership
Still Increasing
HE
Year Book of American
T Churches,
just published, reveals
1952
that total membership in the churches
of the country continues to increase.
The total figure for 252 religious bodies
in America in 1951 was 88,673,005'
This is an increase of nearly two million in a single year.
According to the statistics, Judaism
claims about r) million members, Roman Catholicism about 29 million, and
Protestants (a general category) some
52 million. During the period the
number of churches rose to 284,592,
while the report lists church pastors at
181,123, which indicates that nearly
one third of the churches in the coun-
try are either vacant or recelVlfig only
part-time pastoral supply.
Student enrollment in the seminaries
is at an all-time high, but is not sufficient to take care of the increased
membership and the vacancies which
now exist.
There are 258,877 Sunday schools of
all faiths, with an enrollment of over
30 million, the large percentage of
which is Protestant.
Among Protestant denominations,
fifteen claim a membership of over one
million adherents. The largest is the
Methodist Church with over 9 million
members. The Southern Baptist Convention reports over 7 million, and the
National Baptist Convention over 4
million.
Government Reports
Communist Drive Against
Religion
a report recently prepared by a top
I Ngovernment
agency, details of the
Communist program for the destruction of religion are outlined. The contents of the report have been made
known, though its source is not specifically identified.
According to the report, the Communist governments start by trying to
establish national churches separated
from contact with the church abroad,
and loyal to the local government.
Eventually, however, their aim is the
complete elimination of religious worship and religious teaching.
The Communists determine the
amount of activity against the church
by the number of members the church
has. If a large part of the population
is in the church, the government must
go slow. But if the church is small, its
leaders are liquidated and the church
suppressed. In many of the countries
of Eastern Europe the Catholic church
has been the dominant religious group,
The Presbyterian Guardian
and so the war there has been against
that church.
The program against the church includes such procedures as seizure of
church lands, suppression of church
schools, jailing of church leaders, prohibition of visits to the church by outsiders, etc.
Similar developments are revealed in
reports from China where the church
is being made into a servant of communist ideology and propaganda, and
where all foreign missionaries are either
expelled or imprisoned.
That this is the general aim of the
Communist movement has been obvious in news reports for some time.
The official government report serves
to confirm these news reports.
Property Retained by
ARP Church
A
proposal for the merger of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian
Church with the Southern Presbyterian
body was rejected by the former group
over a year ago. However, permission
was later granted two congregations of
the ARP body to withdraw and join
the Southern Presbyterians. In one
case this has been done, apparently
without trouble. In the other case, that
of First ARP of Charlotte, N. C., the
congregation was divided, the majority
desiring to withdraw, and a minority
opposed. This has resulted in a property problem. Now the ARP denominational board has decided that the
property of First church belongs to the
minority which wishes to remain in the
denomination. The matter will probably be appealed to the ARP church's
higher courts.
This is but a mild foretaste of the
problems which will be raised when
and if a merger between the Northern
and Southern Presbyterian churches is
voted. Many congregations in the
South are opposed to such a merger,
and have given evidence they intend to
stay out and keep their property.
•
Southern Presbyterian
Merger Opponents
Organize
H REE unofficial groups in the
T
Southern
Presbyterian
Church
which have been opposed to the pro-
September 15, 1952
posed merger with the Northern Presbyterians, determined at a meeting held
in Weaverville, N. C., to set up an
official "Association for the Preservation and Continuation of the Southern
Presbyterian Church." Some four-hundred persons attended the meeting.
The three groups involved were the
directors of the Southern Presbyterian
Journal, the executive board of the
Continuing Church Committee formed
several years ago in Louisiana, and an
association formed recently in Tennessee.
over the issue. A law passed by the
state legislature last year gave local
school boards the right to excuse students for justifiable reason. But the
governor vetoed the law. It looks now
as though more Amish young people
would be out of school, and more
Amish parents in jail, before this school
year is over.
Street Preachers
Arrested in New York
H T evangelists were arrested in
E IGNew
York City recently when
Christian Bequest Case
To Supreme Court
December we reported on a
L AST
court case in Waterloo, Iowa, in
which a judge invalidated a will because he felt it was not possible for
him to determine what is Christian.
This case has now been appealed by
the trustees to the state Supreme Court.
In 1936 a Methodist layman, .Dr.
Small, died, leaving a will which set up
a trust fund and specified that the income should go to his widow, and after
her death to "such persons and for such
purposes as they may feel are directed
by God the Father, Jesus Christ the
Son, and the Holy Spirit and as they
believe would be acceptable to me and
meet with my approval." It was this
characterization which the judge in
1951 declared legally indeterminable,
so that the will could not be enforced.
The judge held that "the question of
what is a Christian, requires excursion
into a metaphysical field that is, and
should be, out of bounds for the courts
of an organized society of human beings founded upon the principle of
separation of Church and State."
It will be interesting to see what the
state Supreme Court has to say.
they conducted a street meeting at
Broadway and 47th Street one evening,
and blocked traffic. The charge was
not their preaching, but the traffic congestion. The magistrate before whom
they were taken found them technically
guilty of violating a city ordinance because their meeting had blocked the
sidewalks and obstructed street traffic.
Sentence was suspended.
Bible Distributors
Arrested in 9uebec
T
H E story was not so simple in
Quebec. A suburb of that city,
Hull, has passed a law stating that no
distribution of circulars, writings, pamphlets, printed matter or documents of
any sort may be made in that city
without written permission having
been previously obtained from the
police commissioner.
Such a law is exceedingly broad. It
could affect mailmen in their rounds,
stores in advertising, and telephone
companies in sending out bills. Actually it has been used for one purpose
only, to prevent the distribution of
Protestant religious literature.
A Baptist pastor of the community
wrote to the commissioner asking per-
Amish and School
Attendance
has not yet
P ENNSYLVANIA
solved the problem of compulsory
school attendance and Amish stubbornness. The Amish parents in a number
of communities refuse to permit their
children over 14 years of age to attend
the public high schools. The state says
attendance is compulsory. In 1950
some 34 Amish parents were jailed
179
/
mission to distribute Gospel literature
and Scripture portions. The permission
was refused by the commissioner's
office.
Another individual, in Hull on a
shopping trip with his family, who
took the opportunity to distribute some
Gospels of John outside a store, was
summarily arrested by the police and
hauled off to spend some time in jail.
This is the religious liberty to be
found in some parts of our neighbor
country to the north. These areas are
predominantly Catholic. This is the
attitude of Catholics when they control
the populace and the government.
Pope Urges More
Bible Reading
E the fact that in Quebec
D ESPIT
province people are being arrested
for distributing portions of the Bible,
Pope Pius urged American Catholics to
give themselves in increasing numbers
to a more frequent reading of the
Bible. Catholic Bible Week is to be
held the first few days of October.
The Pope also praised the Catholic
Confraternity on Christian Doctrine
for its recently published English edition of the Bible.
It is difficult to reconcile this attitude
to the Bible, with that common elsewhere. The answer appears to be that
where people have the Bible and will
read it anyway, the Catholic church
must go along, hoping that its own edition or translation will be used. However, where the Bible is not generally
available there is no encouragement,
but rather the opposite, for Catholics
to read it. This is the report, for example, of missionaries and those who
work in Catholic dominated countries.
baptist leaders. In the persecution that
followed, one of the Anabaptists, Felix
Manz was arrested and executed by
drowning.
One of the speakers at the gathering
remarked that Ulrich Zwingli would
"shake his head at the idea of an Anabaptist pilgrimage to this church. But
since his day conditions have changed
very much . . ."
Presbyterian Clergymen
Killed in Korea
A
total of 255 Presbyterian clergymen
have been killed or kidnapped by
North Korean forces during the two
years of the Korean war. One hundred
fifty-two Presbyterian churches and
chapels have been completely destroyed,
and nearly five hundred damaged.
Presumably many of these were north
of the 38th parallel, but by no means
all.
In the recent elections in Korea, a
retired Presbyterian minister was
elected as the vice-president of the Republic of Korea. He is the Rev. Taiyoung Ham, for more than twenty
years pastor of a Presbyterian church
in Seoul. He has been in public and
civil service for a number of years since
his retirement from the pastorate. He
is 78 years of age.
O RY sometimes makes strange
H ISTcompanions.
A memorial servce
for founders of the Anabaptist movement, out of which have come the Mennonite churches, was recently held in
Grossmunster Church in Zurich,
Switzerland, the church where Ulrich
Zwingli preached in the days of the
Reformation.
It was in this church that Zwingli
held his great debates with the Ana-
180
No Vatican Appointment
P
RESIDE N T Truman has indicated
that he no longer intends to make
an appointment of a personal representative to the Vatican. Such an appointment was considered likely after his
proposal for a regular ambassador to
the Vatican fell flat last winter. It remains to be seen what attitude the next
President will take to the matter.
SUNDAY SCHOOL
PAPERS
Edited by Orthodo% Bible Teacher.
Flannelgraph Pictures
and Helps
CHRISTIAN REFORMED PUBLISHING HOUSE
Grand Rapid., Mich.
New Orthodox Lutheran
Seminary
reported a while back the forW Emation
of The Orthodox Lutheran
Church, by a group of ministers and
churches who left the Missouri Synod
ORDER
Mennonites in
Zwingli Church
Lutheran Church, charging it with
laxity of doctrine. This new group has
announced that it will start a seminary
of its own in Minneapolis. Dr. P. E.
Kretzmann, for 20 years a professor at
Concordia, will be one of the faculty
members of the new school.
FORM
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